


A Place to Land

by Vita_sine_fantasy_mors_est



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alec Hardy is a mess, Crying, Ellie Miller is a good friend, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Not Dark, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 06:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15455646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vita_sine_fantasy_mors_est/pseuds/Vita_sine_fantasy_mors_est
Summary: From a prompt borrowed from the wonderful Lumelle: A person in an abusive relationship finally gets the courage to leave and seek help when his puppy gets hurt.





	A Place to Land

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the pieces I've been working on for Camp Nanowrimo, and I wasn't sure if I was going to post it, but the lovely CatWingsAthena convinced me. Let me know if you spot any grammar or spelling errors that I missed. Hope you enjoy!

Ellie Miller was tired of being woken up in the middle of the night, either by her own nightmares, Fred, Tom not being able to sleep, or her own thoughts, but she had to admit, a knock on the door in the middle of the night wasn't something that had happened in a while. She pulled a robe on over her pajamas and padded down the stairs and over to the door. She peered through the peephole to see Alec Hardy looking exhausted, sporting a black eye, and carrying a large injured looking fluffy black and white dog? What? Was she still dreaming? 

Ellie opened the door, "Sir, what? What's going on? Why are you here in the middle of the night? And what happened to the dog? Do you know who it belongs to?"

"Miller, I'm not your boss anymore; you don't need to call me sir. I didn't want to bother you, but I don't really have anywhere else to go at the moment. The dog is mine, there was an accident, but he's going to be fine."

"What do you mean you don't have anywhere else to go? I didn't think you were in the area?"

"I'm not, really. Can I come in, ...please?"

It was the please, unprompted and without any whining that told Ellie something else was going on. 

"Come on in then, and try not to get dog hair everywhere. Tea?"

"Yes."

As Hardy came into the house, it looked to Ellie as though, in addition to being incredibly tired and carrying a dog, more like a puppy really, that he was moving slowly and carefully, like he was trying to avoid jostling or hurting any injuries.

Hardy sat down on the couch and gently put the dog down next to him, keeping a hand on it even when he'd put it down. He looked wary, and uncomfortable, more than he usually did at least, and kept his gaze mostly on the carpet, all of which put Ellie's guard up.

"You ok sir?"

"Miller, you really gonna lead with that? What do you think?"

Ellie raised an eyebrow. "Hardy, what's going on? I haven't heard from you at all in almost a year and a half, no calls, no texts, no emails?" 

"Sorry about that. Did you say something about tea? I am sorry to barge in like this. Would it be possible for me to bring some things in? I just don't want to leave it in the car just sitting there."

"Answers first, then tea. What kind of things? Why? How did your dog break his leg? And when did you get a dog?"

"Someone kicked him. No Miller, it wasn't me, really," Ellie believed him, Hardy wouldn't kick a dog.

"I got a dog about 6 months ago, he's still a puppy actually."

Hardy took a breath, "I took the opportunity and left. I brought Callum to the vet on my way here."

Ellie tried as hard as she possibly could not to stare at Hardy and to stop her brain from traveling further down the path he'd started to lay out, one that she really didn't want to follow.

Ellie asked, "Are there a lot of boxes in your car right now?"

"Yes, that is what happens when you pack up... well, everything."

"Ok, give me your car keys, I'll go get the boxes." 

"I can—"

"You don't look up for carrying boxes at the moment, sorry, and I also don't see you leaving the dog for even a minute."

Hardy looked nervous, so Ellie said, "oh fine, come on and help me then if you're so determined."

Hardy petted Callum on his head, and got up slowly ignoring the hand Ellie offered him.

"Where's Tom? And Fred?"

"Tom's at a sleepover, and Fred's upstairs. The kid can sleep through anything." There was a pause before Ellie said, "I'm sorry Hardy."

Hardy nodded and looked down.

To Ellie's surprise, Hardy was actually quite a big help with the boxes, though once she thought about it she realized that before his pacemaker operation, he'd probably been living in almost constant pain, and doing his absolute best not to let it show, so she shouldn't be surprised that he was pushing it to the side now. She did make him sit down as she actually made tea after all the boxes were stacked in the living room, and made him promise not to get up for at least fifteen minutes.

"I do have a few questions, if you don't mind."

Hardy waved a hand, gesturing her to go on, all the while avoiding her eyes.

"Why'd you come here? Are you in danger? Is there anything you need DS Miller and the police for at the moment or just Ellie your friend?"

"It's not like I could go to my ex-wife's place, I haven't spoken to her in about two and a half months and with my luck it would be whatever guy she's seeing that would answer the door.--"

"You could have called her."

"My mobile's broken."

"Oh."

"AS for your second question, I don't think I'm in danger, I don't think -- anyone knows I'm here. I don't want to go to the station or involve anyone else yet."

"I'm assuming you're hiding some kind of injury, have you gotten it looked at?"

"When would I have had time to do that, eh Miller? And it's just a couple bruises, nothing that needs lookin' at by anyone."

"And you've done something to your wrist. Are those bruises of the 'let me just go on with my life and almost die from heart problems level' or the 'oh bollocks, I've just stubbed my toe' level'?"

Hardy gave her a glare and she gave him a look back that said, very nicely, 'you did deserve that'.

"Somewhere in between. And I most likely just picked up a heavy bag too hard and pulled a muscle in my arm."

Ellie knew he was probably lying, but decided not to call him on it at the moment.

"You should get pictures of the bruises and anything else. I can do it if you'd rather not go to the station yet."

"Can you give me a break for five seconds Miller? And no, I'm not doing pictures, not right now."

"Sorry. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"More tea."

Hardy was staring at the other couch, ignoring Ellie standing right there. 

"You're never going to sleep if you keep drinking tea."

But Ellie took his mug and went toward the kitchen.

"Really Miller," Hardy turned to face her retreating back, "You think I'm going to sleep any more tonight? You should know better than that."

Ellie turned back to face Hardy, "Well, I'd hoped you'd at least try to get some sleep, but if that's not going to happen, try not to make... too much noise."

"If some people are actually going to try to sleep, where should I put Callum's bed?"

"Anywhere's fine, but preferably not in the middle of the floor."

Hardy set up Callum's bed on the floor next to the couch, and gently carried the puppy over and placed him in the bed.

Ellie entered the kitchen and was torn between wanting to get more tea for herself and go sit with Hardy until he talked or fell asleep or both and just going to bed for an hour or two and then coming down and checking on him. She decided, grabbed a mug, and poured tea for herself before bringing both mugs back to the sofa.

Ellie handed Hardy his tea and sat down on the couch near him.

"I thought you were going back to sleep Miller," Hardy said looking at her warily.

"I think I can afford to sacrifice a few hours of sleep to be here for a good friend." 

She didn't say "when he needs me" or "because he needs me" because something like that would only embarrass Hardy, but she definitely thought it.

Hardy looked down and after a few seconds, said very quietly, "Thank you Ellie."

Ellie put the arm not holding a mug around Hardy and gave him a quick one armed shoulder squeeze and then settled back into the couch. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ellie drinking her tea and thinking and trying not to fall asleep and Hardy doing what was probably the same thing, minus the almost falling asleep bit. 

The silence stretched between them, but comfortably, and with no need to be broken any time soon, like endless rolling waves thudding against the shore, constant and unchanging and blending in perfectly with the general scenery not like a rubber band, that felt like it could snap at any time. Ellie knew under most circumstances she would be trying to make small talk or some kind of chatter, but something told her that wasn't what the situation or Hardy needed right now and it would only make him more likely to snap at her over something trivial and turn it into an argument that neither of them, she was pretty sure, actually wanted to have right now. 

She looked at Hardy out of the corner of her eye, but he seemed to be alternately trying to stare a hole through his tea mug and through the wall. Ellie sat there for about another minute or two before her tired brain started to hope that the silence was also comfortable for Hardy, and by the time the thought had percolated through her brain far enough for her to decide to do something about it, she looked over to see Hardy's shoulders shaking in silent sobs.

Ellie put her mug down on the table, scooted over without a word and put her arms gently around Hardy, pulling him into her arms ever so slightly. Hardy, being Hardy, tried to hide his face in his shoulder, but Ellie just kept holding onto him and eventually he moved his head and tried to burrow it into Ellie's shoulder. 

As he melted into her more, she started rubbing his arms and back in circles and long, smooth strokes, and again very slowly, his arms came up to hold onto her and they sat there like that for a long time, neither saying anything, barely making any sound. Ellie wondered if Hardy had always been a silent crier, or if his life over the past four-ish years had taught him that, as hers had more recently with the whole Joe situation.

Eventually Hardy's shoulders stopped shaking and he gave a little sniff and pulled away from Ellie, seeming to shrink as he did so. 

"Sorry," his voice cracked partway through the word.

Ellie put her hands on his shoulders, "You have every right and plenty of reasons to cry Alec, it's perfectly natural," and she gave a tiny smile, "I'd be worried about you if you didn't break down and start crying at some point from of all this because that would mean you were trying to deal with it all yourself and not letting anyone in, which of course I do understand, but you can't do that."

Ellie looked down a bit after her little speech, and Hardy said, "I got your shirt all wet, sorry about that-" 

He cut off and looked down, and when Ellie looked down she saw Callum standing next to Hardy's leg, giving his knee a couple tentative licks. Hardy got down off the couch and gently pulled Callum onto his lap, stroking the puppy's fur and letting him lick Hardy's face and hands all over.

"Hey Callum, boy, why are you up and walking? You're not supposed to be doing that."

Ellie thought she would melt over Alec Hardy talking to his dog, and doing what she thought was probably the closest he'd ever get, when not in private, to baby talking the puppy.

Ellie went into the kitchen to get Hardy a glass of water, and get herself one while she was at it, and to give Hardy a minute or two to collect himself. It was hard seeing him broken down in tears and sobbing into her shoulder, even after she'd seen him when he was almost dying from a heart attack or after his pacemaker surgery. Hardy's face since he'd arrived at her place reminded Ellie a bit of how he looked after talking to Tess during their work on the Sandbrook case, but at least ten times sadder and worse. 

When she came back toward the living room, Hardy had his face buried in Callum's fur and he was holding the dog in his arms and rocking him gently, and he looked up when she entered the room.

"Hey, Hardy, I got you a glass of water, I can put it on the table?"

"Thanks Miller, I'll take it, just give me a sec."

Hardy gently laid Callum back in his bed and then almost gingerly pulled himself upright and came over and retrieved the glass from Ellie.

"He's such a cute puppy, Callum," Ellie said with a smile. 

Hardy gave her the ghost of a smile and said, "Miller, you don't have to stay down here, you can go get some sleep."

"I said I'd stay down here with you, so that's what I'm going to do, unless you want to try and sleep? Or we could find something not horrible on tv and watch that."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep," he gave Ellie a look, "but I don't know if I can stand any tv voices at the moment."

"We can just put subtitles on. What do you feel like Hardy? Baking, home renovation, fantasy, reality tv?"

"No plot Miller. I guess home renovation? That sounds like the only potentially tolerable choice from that list."

"Ok. So do you want people buying houses, people who actually know things fixing houses or people who don't know a ton renovating houses/buying fixer-uppers?"

"Either people who know things fixing houses or the least stupid version of people buying houses you can find."

Ellie shuffled through her DVR until she found an episode of Rehab Addict that she hadn't seen and put it on.

"Miller, why do you have this shit recorded?"

"Because this kind of thing is good for mindless watching, background noise, or watching when I can't sleep in an effort to make myself tired."

The two of them sat back to watch and almost instantly Hardy started a cascade of commentary and critique that Ellie only semi-reluctantly joined in.

After about an episode and a half, both of them were only half watching, and soon after that Ellie poked Hardy gently in the ribs and held out the remote, "Stop brooding and either watch, change it to something else or close your eyes and try to get some rest."

Hardy gave her a sleepy look, took the proffered remote, and turned the volume up a notch. It was only about two hours later, when he awoke with a cry, that either of them realized he'd actually slept, contrary to his protests.

Ellie's eyes flew open, her ears ringing with a cry that was almost a scream, and she looked around wildly until she realized she was sitting on her couch next to Hardy, and that he was the one who had cried out.

"Hey, you ok?"

Hardy was avoiding looking at her, but he nodded, and said "Sorry for waking you Ellie."

She gave him a tiny smile and said, "I'm sure my back will thank you somewhat tomorrow. Nightmare?"

Another nod. 

"Sandbrook?"

"Sort of"

"Your recently ex-partner?"

"...Yeah."

"Ouch. I'm sorry."

Ellie didn't want to use the words "abusive girlfriend" yet, especially not now when Hardy would be feeling extra vulnerable and liable to snap out and misinterpret anything and everything.

"Let me get the couch set up so you can get some proper sleep."

Ellie got a pillow and two blankets from one of the closets and handed them to Hardy when she came back into the living room.

"Please be honest, would you like me to stay down here?"

Hardy said quietly, "I think I'll be fine down here alone for the rest of the night, and there's a good chance I'll wake you up again by accident before the night's fully over."

"Hey, don't worry about that. Try and get some sleep. Night Alec.

To Ellie's relief, and probably Hardy's, both of them slept for several more hours, until it was about 7:30am, which was sort of a normal time to be awake. Ellie would have slept later, but she'd heard Fred wake up for his Saturday morning cartoon viewing and didn't want him to bother Hardy.

Ellie came down the stairs, with Fred in her arms, to find Hardy sitting on the floor cuddling Callum.

Fred called, "Unca Alec!! Unca Alec face!"

Hardy said, "Yes little man, I have a bruise on my face. Morning Miller."

Ellie smiled at him, "Morning Hardy. Nice shiner you have there, want some ice? Or tea? Or both?"

Hardy gave her a look, and said, "Both. And none of that weak tea nonsense you usually drink."

"One ice pack and one extra strong cup of tea coming up."

Ellie put on the water to boil, pulled an ice pack out of the freezer, and grabbed a pack of ibuprofen out of one of the kitchen cupboards, and handed the ice pack and ibuprofen to Hardy.

Hardy set the ice pack down on the back of the couch as he took two ibuprofen, and then pressed the ice pack to his eye, his face relaxing almost imperceptibly as he did so. 

Ellie had just taken Fred's hand to lead him over to the TV, when the phone rang, over Fred's cries of "Doggy!!". She kept hold of Fred with one hand to stop him running over and bothering Callum, and hurried over to pick up the phone. 

She frowned almost immediately when she heard the voice on the other end: it was the Chief Super. 

"DS Miller, sorry to bother you so early on a weekend, but I need your help."

"Of course Ma'am."

Ellie saw Hardy's head pop up at her tone and the form of address and she was pretty sure he knew exactly who she was talking to.

"Do you know where DI Hardy is?"

Ellie was very confused, why was the Broadchurch Chief Super asking about Hardy, when he hadn't worked there for about 2 years? And then with a flash of realization, she guessed it had something to do with his abusive girlfriend and his leaving his house very suddenly.

"Yes ma'am, can I ask why you want to know?"

"His girlfriend called Sandbrook Police Station about an hour ago asking if he was there or if they might know where he was, since when she woke up he was gone and so was his dog, and some fraction of his possessions may also have been missing, the Sandbrook Police weren't very clear on that, and she couldn't reach him on his mobile. They called us, since Broadchurch was the last place he worked, and I called you since I thought you would be the most likely candidate to know anything."

"Can you give me a minute ma'am? I can call you back if you want?"

"That won't be necessary, I'll just wait."

Ellie put down the phone carefully, made her way over to where Hardy was sitting on the couch, and said, "That was the Chief Super on the phone, apparently your ex-girlfriend called the station where you work when she woke up and you and Callum weren't home, and the station there called the station here because you worked here, and the Chief Super called me. Do you want to talk to her or should I? Or should I not say anymore?"

"I'll talk to the Chief Super, but i'm not talking to that bloody woman," Hardy almost growled the last part.

"I don't think you have to."

Ellie walked Fred over to the tv and sat him down and got everything set up for Fred to watch Peppa Pig or Horrid Henry, trying to appear busy while Hardy talked. Hardy walked over and grabbed the phone, "DI Hardy here."

Hardy looked sort of annoyed in that way that Ellie had come to realize during Sandbrook meant someone was trying to be kind or care about him and his health in some way, and he didn't like it

"Yes Ma'am."

There was a slightly pained look on Hardy's face this time.

"I couldn't contact her because my mobile's broken, but she knows that. I left because I had to Ma'am, and because I had to take my dog to the vet."

"What do you think I bloody mean by that??!!"

Whatever the Chief Super was saying seemed to make Hardy shrink into himself.

"Yes Ma'am. Just tell her that I don't want to talk to her and I am safe, and Callum, my dog, is safe, and leave it at that."

He listened for a little bit and then put the phone back.

Hardy snapped, "Miller, stop pretending to do things with the tv and get the water before the kettle explodes."

The kettle had chosen that moment to start whistling, so Ellie walked over, took it off the stove, and turned the heat off. She grabbed two mugs from a cupboard, as well as the sugar bowl and poured tea into both mugs. Ellie handed one mug to Hardy, who set his ice pack down on the counter and took the mug with a nod. 

He lumped some sugar into his mug, "Chief Super said I should come down to the station and she could take my statement and do all the necessary things if I'd like, or she could get one of the guys to do it, or someone else if I'd like. I don't want any of the bloody guys to do it, they all hate me, and it's too bloody awkward a thing for your former boss to do,..."

Ellie stared at him, "Hardy, is this you asking me if I'd do it? Because I will, if you'd prefer that."

"Maybe," Hardy looked down, "Chief Super still wants me to go talk to her. I don't want to leave Callum alone."

Ellie's phone buzzed, and she looked down at it, "It's Tom. He wants to know if he can do something later. I could ask him to look after Callum, if you'd like?"

"Fine. I'll ask him when he gets here. And you should come with me to the station."

They waited a few minutes, sipping their tea and eating some biscuits, and soon Tom was home. 

"Mom, why's there a car parked outside? And what are all these boxes?"

Tom came into the kitchen, "Oh, hi DI Hardy, what are you doing here? Is the dog yours?"

Hardy gave Tom a nod in greeting and Ellie said, "Tom, DI Hardy's going to be staying with us for a few days. The boxes and dog are his."

Hardy cleared his throat and said, "Tom, I was actually wondering if you'd look after my dog for a couple hours., Miller and I need to stop by the station for a while."

Tom shrugged, "Ok, yeah. I'll make sure he doesn't do any running around, or bother Fred too much."

Hardy said, "His name's Callum and he loves being petted and having his belly rubbed."

Ellie was surprised that Tom had agreed so quickly, but most of what Tom did didn't make sense to her so she didn't question it. She hugged Tom and Fred. 

"We'll be back in a bit. Tom don't watch anything inappropriate."

"Mom!"

Ellie and Hardy walked through the house and out the door. 

"Hardy, you can stay as long as you need, and I'll help as much as I can, ok?"

"Thank you Ellie. I should call and see if that place I rented before is still available.

"Later, after the station, and hopefully a nap."

Hardy grumbled, but got in the car and started on the road toward the police station, hoping this all could be a new start and everything he'd hoped it would be.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always very much appreciated!


End file.
